Window Shopping

Christmas is a-coming and day by day more and more windows take on a festive look. I've just completed doing my own decorating at home because I like to be as early and capture the Christmas mood in my own surroundings before being bombarded by it everywhere else. This year though will be a little different as I will be spending Christmas is hospital, most of December too; so it has been doubly important for me to have a little Christmas at home first.I wish that part of that involved eating my way through the many gorgeous-looking cakes displayed here. I was struck by the daintiness and the colours and the sparkling silver branch; the collection was somehow exciting, appealing and because nothing is really symmetrical or rigidly formal (which so many other window displays often are), there is a carefree lightness to the picture that I find rather infectious.There is a little bit of everything here, and that, to my mind, is just how Christmas should be!

Location: Norwich, England

Imposing Building

I'm in two mind about this building –a townhouse in Nuremberg. On the one hand, I admire its individual features, such as the rounded glass of the window panes and the unusual turret, while on the other hand I find it a little ... well, intimidating; a bit imposing and mysterious. Perhaps this is as much due to the angle I have taken the picture –from below– as anything else. Or maybe, seen with "another" eye the whole facade seems to have something of a "Transformers" personality –the turret becoming a head and its upper floors the wide shoulders of some robotic creature. I don't know anything of the history of the building, but it does intrigue me –like all buildings of personality and character. Yet would I live here? Perhaps not. I'd happily have some of those windows though.

Location: Nuremberg, Germany

Police Post

Here's quite an interesting piece of street furniture that I came across in London. I don't know if it's the only one of it's kind, but it's a post or bollard marking the site of a former police station, in this case the one in Gerald Road near Victoria. The garage doors behind were once those of the station. First opened in 1846, the police station closed in 1993 when the new Belgravia station was built. It is now a private residence. But at least a couple of reminders of its law enforcement past remain, including a blue plaque and a (once) blue lamp of the kind traditionally found above the entrances to police stations. But te real treat is this little constable –no more than a foot in height. I have taken the photograph from below deliberately because I felt it suited the authority of the memorial, but many people probably pass it without realising what it is. Some wit has drawn eyes and a mouth on the formerly blank silver face, but they've got the expression spot on. He seems to be regarding the world with a certain grim suspicion, enough to induce apprehension in any potential wrongdoers, but there's also a solidness to him that inspires trust.Even though he has no arms! I love quirky little things like this that one finds on the streets of cities around the world.

Location: London, England

Quayside Sunset

The long, long hot summer seems to be drawing to a close, and though there are no doubt many warm days and evenings still ahead before autumn and winter sets in, the harsh and scorching heat of a couple of weeks ago have mostly abated. For many, the cooler days are very welcome, as is the rain that has started to pour over Oslo more regularly again –like in a "normal" summer. But no one can take away the beauty and mellow peacefulness of late-summer evenings and the sun dipping down beyond the fjord. This is one of my favourite places in Oslo to go for walks and bike rides –along the long quayside that sticks out into the bay and then circles around the castle on the other side, creating one continuous path. Here, a cruise ship is just about to depart in the distance having spent the day in Oslo. Usually along here you'll find dozens of people with fishing rods; some of them may be obscured by the shadows. Otherwise, it's usually a peaceful place -close to the city yet away from its noise and bustle. I took this picture as a snapshot while out biking, so though it's not perfect, I felt it captured very much the mood of a moment; a summer evening moment!

Location: Oslo, Norway

Summer

This summer seems to go on and on like those summers of childhood that stretched into infinity. The heat has taken its toll, but as I write there is finally a little rain –which is more than refreshing. In the countryside much of what is usually green at this time of the year is pale and yellow, the vegetation dried out by weeks of sun. However, in the lakes and ponds that are dotted around in the forests surrounding Oslo, there is verdant life. These water plants seem impossibly green, almost as if they have been artificially fabricated. Against the dark blue of the water they form an attractive pattern and may be welcome rafts for insects in need of a rest. The water is probably delightful to bathe in, though on this occasion I was happy just to photograph.

Location: Oslo, Norway

Le Tour Underway!

I should have posted this one a few days ago when my favourite sporting event of the year –Le Tour de France– started, but like some of the riders, I am a little behind. However, there are three whole weeks of cycling to enjoy. Conditions in France are, of course, nothing like as severe as seen here, and (surprise, surprise) this picture is not from this week but some months ago when snow covered our city for weeks and weeks and only the brave took to cycling –skiing was much more practical. But I liked the image of the bicycle in the snow enough to keep it "on ice" until now. With our current heatwave it is almost refreshing to see a picture that has a winter theme, n'est pas? Anyway, I hope you enjoy the thrill of the Tour as much as I am, and may your bicycle always be there for you when you need it!

Location: Oslo, Norway

Italian Gardens

Right at the north end of Kensington Gardens in London you'll find this fabulous feature, an Italian Garden in the heart of London. You may be heading deeper into the park but it is tempting to stop here and go no further for though just moments away from a busy road you are in tranquil surroundings and feel yourself somehow stepping back in time as you walk around these beds and basins. The gradens were originally set out in the 1860s by Prince Albert, designed by James Pennethorne and based on the gardens at Osborune House on the Isle of Wight. The gardens were fully restored in 2011. This picture is taken towards the end of spring, early one morning when I had an hour to kill after leaving my hotel and before my onward connection left. I stumbled quite by accident into the park and was enchanted by its genteel beauty. Later, there would no doubt be more colour in the flowerbeds but the grass was green and the sound of the fountains mixed with an impressive amount of birdsong were ample substitutes. I tried to capture the atmosphere of slightly heightened wonder and magical mystery that I experienced here; the big dark trees on the left seem to have turned their backs on the serenity below, yet they too form part of the whole. Essentially, I find the image a very peaceful one.

Location: London, England

Summer Idyll

Summer time in the countryside; is there anything nicer? the bees are buzzing, flowers are blooming, the sky is blue and the cows are ...mooing? Well, maybe not the latter; they seem to be doing what they do best –chewing and staring. They're up here for the summer to graze so for them too it's a kind of holiday, even though they are milked daily. Here I was eager to "frame" the cows between the gate posts and capture a little bit of everything that makes me love the Norwegian countryside in summer –the colours, the trees, the clouds. I wish I could have captured the sound too (almost, but not quite, silence) and the many smells, but these you will have to imagine. Perhaps the picture at least helps evoke a feeling –of peace, summer and idyllic days in the country.

Location: Valdres, Norway

Samosian Sunrise

Everyone loves a good sunset and there are thousands or probably millions of photographs that have captured them in some way –I've taken a few hundred myself. But sunrises are a little different, a little rarer. This is because whilst everyone is up and around to enjoy the sight of the sun going down, relatively few are up early enough to see it rise –except at certain times of year up here in the north when it doesn't seem to rise until the afternoon, if at all. But sunrises have a double beauty to them. There is the uplifting sight of unfolding light illuminating and warming the shadows of the night, and then there is the tranquility of the atmosphere –the lack of people, noise, activity. Somehow this makes it easier to really appreciate a good sunrise than a good sunset; and its glory is a sort of special prize give to you for getting up so early. I can no longer remember why I was up so early in this particular instance, but there may have been no reason at all –other than just being out and about before the world has woken up. The picture is from the Greek island of Samos and the sun has just risen above the hills behind the trees. The trees block off much of the light but the sun, even at this early hour, is too strong and pushes its golden rays through the branches and onto the clean cobblestones by the harbour, creating a yellow-brick road that has a magical quality to it. Ten minutes later, five minutes, the scene had changed, so I was happy to have captured this moment of gleaming splendour before the hot Greek sun washed everything into harsh whiteness.

Location: Pythagoreio -Samos, Greece

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 10

Though few, if any, people continue to use gloves or mitten now that summer has taken hold that does not mean these intrepid items of hand-wear have disappeared entirely from view. They continue to pop up in the oddest places. Here no less a figure than Minnie Mouse decorates a mitten that has found a new home in the sun, with a colourful display of flowers behind. Once again, I am intrigued how such a distinctive mitten could have gone missing.

Location: Oslo, Norway

Boats For Hire

The harsh sun has dipped towards the sea but sends its last rays of warm gold across the water to reflect against the equally gold hulls of these boats, berthed close to a beach on the northern coast of Corfu. Fishing boats are berthed behind them, and out on the water a single little ferry is heading out into the sunset. These boats would have been busy taking tourists along the coastline earlier in the day but now they can rest gently until tomorrow. I like the calm of the picture; though there is a lack of people there is no sense of isolation. Also the picture has a nice temperature about it; the lingering warmth of a hot day giving way to a milder but sweetly tempting Greek evening...

Location: Corfu, Greece

Walls That Talk

I regularly pass by this open piece of ground in central Oslo, wedged in between buildings. Once a building stood here too; I remember it well as it used to house a fun nightclub and bar and later café, before the whole building was gutted in a fire one New Year's Eve (which I witnessed. Apart from a tiny fragment of the entrance (which is not visible here) the whole place was pulled down, the basement beneath the ground here filled in, and now fifteen or more years later– it lingers in the sun; occasionally cars may park here, but it's not been made to accommodate vehicles in any way –the area is simply waiting. Yet every time I pass by I'll recall a memory or two of fun times spent here back in the nineties, and then I'll get distracted by the decaying grandeur of the adjacent walls. I love the mix of textures, the unevenness, the sense of space, and I've passed by so many times meaning to take pictures here but never getting around to it –until now. The black and white rendition somehow just seems right, placing the image into a stylised past that is both evocative and strangely beautiful despite the decay.

Location: Oslo, Norway

Old Doors

A return to the wonderful railway yard in my old home town in Norfolk –just about my favourite place in the whole world to explore photograph. The clutter and junk of trains has for me a curious beauty about it, as does here the textures and lines and uneven surfaces. You don't really have to be a good photographer to get a good picture here (a bit like Venice), you just point and shoot and you'll capture something interesting. Of course, some thought to composition and light does help, but I have found that very few of the many, many pictures I have taken at this railway yard have worthless or had to be discarded –certainly compared to anywhere else I take photographs. Everything is worth saving. And here, this applies to the old train carriage doors that have been stacked up against the wall of the workshop. How many people have stepped through these doors at the start or end of a journey? How many have stood in the window, waving to loved ones as the train slips out the station. Will the doors ever be used again? Who knows -it would be nice to think so. Yet here they now bask in the sun reliving perhaps their days of glory and swapping tales of late passengers and impatient guards...

Location: East Dereham, England

The Day Off

A picture that smacks of relaxation, independence and the joy of free time. I like the neatness of the photograph, Without the white beach hut in the foreground I think the image of the relaxing man would be isolated, but here it has a comforting presence. I also like how he is placed between the two buoys out in the sea. The motive may make us smile a little but it is the the composition that really makes the picture, I feel.

Location: Deal, England

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 9

Despite the warmer weather gloves and mittens continue to go absent without leave, and this particular example I found downright scary. Like a huge, thick spider it's crawled up on to a metal electrical box (perhaps to recharge), and there lies in wait. There's also something of the severed hand of horror movies about its stance. Perhaps that's why my normally steady hand was shaking just a little bit when I snapped this beauty -causing the exposure to be slightly out of focus. This was evening, and the light was though. However, I felt the image was startling enough to share anyway, as yet another example of the wanderlust of lonesome hand-wear.

Location: Oslo, Norway

World Book Day

It's World Book Day, so I thought it would be appropriate to share a picture that features books. This little collection is on display at a used-books shop in Heidelberg, so all the titles are in German. You might care to try guessing at some of their original titles if you've got time on your hands. Collections of anything that are similar yet unique are always pleasing motives, and part of the pleasure of collecting books is having them on display; unlike many other items, books are seldom untidy or "cluttered". The only thing that annoys me about these particular books is that the titles on the spines are printed "the wrong way" ie, in the opposite direction to what is generally normal. You'll occasionally get books like this and they exasperate me as I never know whether to have them upside down in my shelf so that the spine is commensurate with all the others, or to have the face the right way up, thus causing an anomaly in the row! But, as I have used up all my shelf space long ago and books are now piled up in stacks all over my flat, the problem is largely academic and books that are "the wrong way round" get banished to less conspicuous corners. However, the important thing is really the content, and books of all kinds continue to thrill, entertain, educate and inspire me. And I hope they do the same to you. Happy World Book Day!

Location: Heidelberg, Germany

Going Dutch

Time for some flowers, it's spring, after all and they're popping up all over the place to everyone's great delight. When I was in Amsterdam I felt it was almost obligatory for me to get a picture of some tulips and I spent half an afternoon trying to find some without falling deeply into the cliche trap of souvenir shops. This place seemed more genuine, and bright and colorful, and though there will later be many, many more flowers on sight both here and elsewhere, these tulips made me very happy for a while! And lest one should forget where one was, the name at the top says it all.

Location: Amsterdam, Holland

Touch of Extravagance

You'd be forgiven for thinking this magnificent building is to be found in India or somewhere exotic, but it's much closer to home; Brighton, in fact, for this is a view of the famous Royal Pavilion, built for George IV when he was Prince of Wales and fancied a little hut by the sea. Originally designed by Henry Holland, the greater part of what we see today is the work of John Nash who extended the building greatly. Not so much a beach hut, but a veritable palace on the coast! It's a fabulous place to visit (equally spectacular inside) and endlessly fascinating. I don't quite know why I shot this one in black and white, though maybe it was because the building is a rather bland beige colour. But still, it evokes the Regency period and lavish extravagance –and we all need a little of that at times!

Location: Brighton, England

Jawas Hanging Around..?

I had to look twice when I passed this sight the other day. And had it been dark I would probably have gotten quite a shock too. These are shrubs that have been protected for the winter by being wrapped up with sackcloth, but it can't just be me that sees a line of Jawas.. can it? (Jawas, by the way, are the cute busybody little creatures introduced in the first Star Wars film, you know, the ones in the desert on Tatooine who salvage droids). Well, if there were any droids passing here I'm pretty sure they'd be quite safe as these particular Jawas seem more drunk than busy. I just thought it was an amusing sight, worthy of sharing here. If you're not a fan of Star Wars, feel free to move along –these may not be the Jawas you are looking for! (Sorry)

Location: Oslo, Norway

British Market

Norwich has one of the oldest and finest markets in all of England, so well established that it's permanently covered and many of the stalls are pretty much miniature shops; yet the atmosphere is still very much that of any other market, with the certainty that once you go in you will find things you never knew existed and emerge clutching half a dozen things you don't need for every one item you do. But that's the fun of a market, and I for one love to explore such places; this one has essentially remained the same since I was a child, yet remains just as exciting and enjoyable. Now, I find it equally rewarding to photograph there whenever I visit the city. On this occasion, the market was just closing for the day so most of the stalls were boarded up. Boxes were stacked in the passageways between stalls that usually throng with people but which now were eerily empty. The light was interesting –pale sunlight filtering through the coverings of the market stalls giving a pale, almost underwater-like feeling. Here, I was attracted by the contrast of this to the bright Union Jack on the side of the box, and haphazard beauty of the pile of boxes itself.

Location: Norwich, England

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 8

Time for another example of that tenacious species, the abandoned but wandering glove. This fine specimen has hit the ground and is about to navigate its way across the flow path of a drain –which is fortunately dry here. The glove's innards seem to be emerging from three of the fingers, but perhaps this is a sign of spring! We wish the determined glove bon voyage on it's journey of discovery down the pavement.

Location: Oslo, Norway

Perfect Little House in the Snow

Winter is slowly coming to an end, at last, and everyone seems impatient to greet spring, briskly, before getting on to the business of summer. I have taken more pictures of snowy landscapes, snowmen, blizzards, snowstorms and icy streets this year than I care to count and I too long for the bright colours of a new season. But like nature itself, I can't quite let winter go yet, for snow undeniably makes things very pretty and peaceful (at least to start with) and is a great reflector of light. This is a picture that I find particularly pleasing in composition and tone. The house is a small out-building on the grounds of the Oslo Museum in the park near where I live. I'm unsure whether anyone lives in it, but I would be happy to do so. I find, both the house and the picture gives associations to Hollywood sets of the 1930s and 40s, where snow is unreal but looks perfect and all features are skilful products of succinct art direction.I love the fence and the way its slats are shadowed on the virgin snow, creating interesting patterns. The sky is also lively, the clouds tempering the bright sun somewhat and making for a more interesting picture. The house itself seems content, at rest. With this photograph, I conclude my "winter" pictures for this year; with Summer Time officially starting this weekend with the clocks going forward, I promise something warmer next time!

Location: Oslo, Norway

Street Furniture Standoff

Street furniture fascinates me in all its forms. I suppose most people (quite sensibly) take it all for granted, not giving much thought to the various benches and posts and myriad other features that they pass by on a daily basis, but imagine how naked a town would be without street furniture –and how dull! I've written before about how much street furniture defines a country or city and I never tire of observing the creativity and individuality. of the essentially mundane. The postbox here may look familiar in shape bearing an uncanny resemblance to the bright red ones in England. Indeed this would have been red long ago, but this is Ireland, and so they were painted green when the country gained its independence (a practical way to save money rather than having to redesign and replace them entirely). As for the red and yellow "box", I'm not quite sure what that is, but it is certainly striking, a bit like a vast slice of layer cake left on the pavement, being perused by the postbox. The quartet is completed by the lanky signpost and the short, lowly wooden bollard. I like all the colours here (Cork is a surprisingly colourful place) and the sense of emptiness -at least of people; here the various items of street furniture can bask in their own sense of purpose.

Location: Cork, Ireland

Footbridge in Nuremberg

I was watching a documentary last night about the last months of the Second World War. It partly dwelt on the city of Nuremberg which with its long Nazi past was particularly targeted and damaged as the conflict intensified. In fact, much of it was totally destroyed, flattened. Yet like numerous other cities that suffered a similar fate, it sprang up from the ashes to be reborn and to reclaim its historical heritage. When I visited the city a few years ago I was struck by how successful the reconstruction had been, and how little of the destruction and effects of war was visible. The city was not "modernised" or changed to suit new styles, but went back to its roots, recreating what was there before, without this seeming to be forced. A fine city to explore, especially on a warm summer day. Here we are by the river, looking at a quaint covered footbridge that seems to have been there for generations but is obviously -in its present regeneration– much newer than it looks. The vibrant colours of the trees and roofs and blue sky reflected in the water and the novelty of the bridge itself make this at least a mildly interesting picture; one to soak up and enjoy on an otherwise grey day in March when looking back (or forward) to hotter days is a tempting and rewarding pastime.

Location: Nuremberg, Germany

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 7

Yet another mitten has lost its brother (or sister), this time in the stately setting of the Royal Palace in Oslo –glimpsed here in the background. Could this mitten have belonged to a wandering royal or a clumsy courtier? Now forced to linger atop a rubbish bin (shudder) it nonetheless manages to retain something of a regal state in the way it presents itself to the world, or is it perhaps begging for change so that it may be reunited with its partner...?

Location: Oslo, Norway

The Sledging Party

With much of Europe battling unprecedented winter conditions (taken in stride in Norway) it is uplifting that people are making the most of the snow and taking to winter sports and activities with a vengeance. This group of five girls and a sledge marches as resolutely through the snow as arctic explorers heading for the pole. I like it that they are in a line rather than bunched together and the body language is interesting –is one of the girls less thrilled about the upcoming sledging activity than the others? And is the sledge-puller herself perhaps texting for back-up troops or castigating some shirking confederate who has failed to show up for the fun. I just felt it was a nice wintery sort of picture to share while we all wait for the coming of warmer days.

Location: Oslo, Norway

Escalator

I was fiddling with my camera, having just taken some fairly ordinary pictures of trains on the London Underground, and was returning up the escalator at Kilburn Park where I was staying at the time, when I was struck by the way the false light of the underground world is replaced by the real light of the outside world shining through a glass dome on top of the station hall. Then there were these golden ceiling lights that seemed in both illumination and style to belong a earlier age, giving a kind of welcoming warmth as one came up the stairs –and are a stark contrast to the functional strip lighting tubes below. Rather than making everything nice and straight and balanced, I wanted the angles to define the picture. Here, the dark lower ceiling cuts across diagonally at the top of the picture while the shadowy stairwells creates a sort of jagged effect below. These two elements create a nice frame for the lights, the destination. I liked the breaking up of composition and the dynamic quality of the various lines we see and I, at least, find the photograph quite exciting!

Location: London, England

Down on the Tracks

It's been a while since I posted any pictures of trains, which is surprising considering how much of a train freak I am. I'd happily photograph trains and railway stations and everything to do with them all day long and nothing else, but I think that would be too much –at least for this blog, and there are so many other things that are worthy of photographing too. But, my thoughts at the moment are turning to plans for the spring and summer, and for rail travel in particular, and so I'm dipping into some pictures of the past for inspiration. Here's a picture from the fabulous German railway museum in Nuremberg, taken in its large outdoor yard (I've not wandered dangerously between mainline tracks if that is what you are wondering). Here, all sorts of glorious pieces of rolling stock enjoy their semi-retirement and all the attention poured on them by enthusiasts such as myself. I got right down to track level to give these two trains a sense of grandness, despite their fairly ordinary pedigree. Are the trains coming or going; do the tracks lead away from us or towards us? I'm not going to get too philosophical about it, I just thought it was a nice picture to share, and hope all your train journeys be pleasant and exciting ones!

Location: Nuremberg, Germany

Reflection

Though ice on the roads and pavements can be a tiresome hinderance to normal movement at this time of year, it does sometimes create some interesting effects of light and texture. This is a street very close to where I live, and a chic cheese and groceries shop far too exclusive for my meagre wallet. It's always very pretty and inviting though, and here the golden light of its interior is reflected in pools of melted ice on the other side of the street street. Roads are dreadfully dull things usually, so it is refreshing to see their texture transformed a little. I like the curves and lines in the light here, and the slightly magical look of the otherwise ordinary urban landscape. It is early evening and lights in the windows are beginning to be turned on. In one of the windows a star can be seen, for this picture was taken around Christmas time. The warmth of the shop with its bright lights is some distance away, adding, I think, to the slightly melancholy beauty of the picture.

Location: Oslo, Norway

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 6

This truant mitten has found a post on which to pose. It may have been assisted to this perch by some "helpful" passer by, but one cannot rule out that it has climbed there itself, to get a better view of its surroundings and perhaps locate its partner –possibly its owner too.In the meantime, it functions as a kind of waving beacon to those battling the wintery conditions of Oslo at this time. And though no hand is currently warmed by its embrace, the post surely must feel lucky to have the luxury of being capped by such a fine mitten!

Location: Oslo, Norway

Coloured Windows

There's something quite reminiscent of Piet Mondrian in this assembly of coloured glass window panes in a side-street of Dublin. But there's an eclectic mix of textures too, or rather types of glass that is far from the clean lines of the De Stijl movement and perhaps more in keeping with Irish individualism. The colours are pleasing, in a chocolate box sort of way, the allure definitely inviting –one is drawn to these windows as much to discover what is beyond as to admire them in their own right. By day such windows are perhaps merely quaint; by night they become magical. I had only my trusty pocket camera with me when I passed by here, and that is never brilliant for nighttime shots, but I did by best with what I had, wishing I had a camera that allowed a longer exposure time and greater sharpness; yet sometimes the moment is enough; the world doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful

Location: Dublin, Ireland

Mountain Water

Norwegian has a word that describes a body of water that can be somewhere between a lake and a pond, but either of these too! Confusingly, the word is the same as the word for water itself: vann. The English equivalent in this mountain setting would probably be a tarn, but I have always found that word rather bland and nondescript, and somehow "water" works for me –probably because I have been in Norway for so long. This particular "water" in the mountainous countryside of mid Norway is apt to grow in size –being at its largest in spring after the winter snows have melted, and –if the summer is a hot and dry one– retreating to a marshy puddle later in the year. But here it sparkles in the afternoon sun of an early July. Calm, tranquil, somehow inviting and yet also perhaps a little mysterious (in a pleasant way). I've rendered the picture in sepia to accentuate this, but also because I find the cloud formations quite agreeable this way. Beyond the "water" and trees can be seen the ridges of three separate ranges of mountains, some still with snow on them. There is no one about, and were the picture to have an accompanying soundtrack, the only sounds that would be heard would be the slight rustling of the wind in the trees and the occasional distant buzz of some insect out on a spree. I find the picture very calming.

Location: Valdres, Norway

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 5

A single mitten, lonely and lost, perching recklessly on the corner of a wall next to stairs outside the main library in Oslo on a winter's day. I would imagine that this particular mitten would have belonged to a child, perhaps even now being told off for losing it –or did it merely escape? Again I am fascinated that there should only be one –there almost always is. Is it because gloves are never lost in pairs, or perhaps, if they are, that they are immediately appropriated by someone else –whereas your single mitten or glove is like a forlorn soul, doomed to solitude. We must remember of course, that the moment one glove is lost, both become useless –unless you happen to only have one arm...

Location: Oslo, Norway

Old Sea Dog

Though not at sea we are in the water here, for this is HMS Warrior, the first armour-plated, iron-hulled warship, built in 1860 for the Royal Navy. She is now permanently berthed by the wonderful Historic Dockyard in Portsmouth as a museum ship, and is well worth a visit, even though most visitors tend to head first for the even more famous HMS Victory which is also found here. But this means there are less people jostling about and –at least when I was there– no queue to get in; in fact, for a large part of my visit I had the great ship pretty much to myself, being one of the first guests to arrive that day. However, I was not quite alone, for pacing the deck was this elderly gentleman –presumably a guide but perhaps a ghost, who by the manner of his gait and poise was re-living days of glory at sea. I imagined him to be a crusty old captain, only really happy when aboard a mighty vessel. Here he seems content –the seas are calm and all is well; there is no mutiny today nor any sign of the enemy. There is time for reflection, and thoughts of a life devoted to the sea. I felt the picture captured both something of the grandeur of the ship and the story of a man, and I like that he is standing a little in the shade, hands behind his back, in control.

Location: Portsmouth, England

Old England

Now, here's a building with character. Built in 1899 as a department store this wonderful art-nouveau edifice is now a museum devoted to musical instruments –the equally wonderful MIM. The building is audacious but not at all vulgar or overdone; it stands out among its neighbours but not in such a way that it dazzles or ignores them –a perfectly behaved building in other words. And yet the details of its wrought iron facade and fine windows fascinate and thrill. It's almost like a fairytale building, a benign one, that you feel compelled to enter and explore. Were all buildings like this it would be too much for the eye, but how uplifting it is to come across such fabulous frippery now and again.

Location: Brussels, Belgium